1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to aircraft, and more specifically to freight feeder aircraft for short-haul air transportation of containerized cargo from originating locations to a central point where the cargo may be efficiently reloaded onto large size aircraft for longhaul transportation to another central reloading point or to a final destination. The invention relates particularly to a method and system of automatically resetting the flat rate setting of the engines of such a freight feeder aircraft based on the actual operational gross weight of the aircraft prior to takeoff.
2. Background and Prior Art
Cargo carrying aircraft are known in the art. Typically, such aircraft are for long-haul operations, are of very large size, require long runways for takeoff and landing, and are inefficient and uneconomical for short-haul operations. Loading and unloading cargo from such aircraft is particularly inefficient and requires a significant amount of time, thus undesirably increasing the "turn around" time from landing and unloading to reloading for another takeoff.
An example of a known cargo carrying aircraft is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,425,498 to Watter.
Power lifted aircraft, in the form of helicopters, have also been known for many years and used for air transportation of cargo. While such aircraft have many advantages over conventional aircraft, which typically require runways of a minimum specified length for takeoff and landing, helicopters are incapable of fulfilling the rapidly developing needs of the commercial and military air cargo transportation systems as a result of the operational and economic limitations of such aircraft.
A new type of aircraft which fills the needs of the short haul freight industries, such as the overnight express package delivery industry, as well as the increasingly containerized freight transportation systems of the military services, has been proposed by the present inventor and is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,038, incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
There remains, however, a need in the art to reduce the cost of freight transportation by such freight feeder aircraft, and in particular to reduce fuel costs, to reduce wear and tear on the aircraft's engines, and consequently to reduce aircraft maintenance costs and to increase engine life.